Overcoming initial hiccups, the historic Baliyatra here was inaugurated on Monday evening amid pomp and gaiety. The week-long festival organised over an area of 50 acre on two grounds adjacent to the Mahanadi embankment near the Gadagadi temple will continue till November 20.
Industries Minister Debi Prasad Mishra inaugurated the festival in the presence of several of his Cabinet colleagues, MPs, MlAs and the city Mayor. Nearly 1,000 stalls and over 400 vendors and artisans from the State and outside have come to the festival with wide-ranging products with a hope to make brisk businesses.
On the inaugural day, which coincided with the Kartik Purnima, over a lakh revellers thronged both the Baliyatra grounds and crowded the amusement and joyride stalls. Many relished the famous and mouthwatering dish of the city, Dahi Bara and Thunka Puri.
Over a week ago, the people here were apprehensive of the festival as the East Zone Bench of National Green Tribunal (NGT) had restrained the district administration from allotting sites to erect makeshift stalls on one of the grounds believing that it is riverbed. However, when the district administration informed the bench that the contentious ground is merely an islet, the NGT gave green signal to the festival only on November 4.
The festival grounds are dotted with stalls showcasing ethnic items in National Pallishree Mela, Gandhi Shilpa Bazar, ORMAS-led Self-Help Groups and specially erected stalls for transgenders and Dibyangs. Government and public sector units, including public utility departments, too have set up their stalls showcasing a range of their own products and schemes.
looking at the expected footfall on the festival grounds over the week, the Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) has taken up the responsibility to keep the festival site clean and hygienic. “Garbage and waste generated from the grounds will be collected twice a day to be disposed of at a place far away from the river,” informed CMC Commissioner Gyana Das.
The city police have made elaborate arrangements to contain crime and maintain law and order at the festival grounds for next seven days. Fire brigade personnel equipped with fire tenders and other firefighting measures are also deployed at the festival grounds to meet any eventuality.